Chateau, good catch twice, but some of your flights don't make sense even if they were actualy used. I did inadvertently switch the flight numbers on AA905 (which is from MIA GIG) and AA995 (which is from MIA GRU). However, I can see no reason why American Airlines would send AR13 teams to Rio when AA995 to Sao Paulo arrives there earlier than AA905 does in Rio. Once there in Sao Paulo the connection I have shown is the best. In Rio, if teams did go there (and I do not recall any evidence about the TAM flight on episode 1), they would have been motivated back in LAX to choose JJ8001, which leaves 10 minutes before G3 1600. Why would teams want to wait around even 10 minutes in the competitive environment? Maybe American Airlines forced their choice. I don't know.

I was asked to move this posting from elsewhere. It fits as well here as there.

If you read through the Vyxsin and Kynt blog (http://thebiz.fancast.com/2008/09/kynt_vyxsin_pink_black_blast_0.html#more) about AR13ep.1 to the end, it says "They will have a crucial time advantage over the other 9 teams, should they use it effectively." I do not understand it, because it looked like Ken and Tina finished about 5 minutes behind Nick and Starr. I also thought that Terence and Sarah and Mark and Bill were not far behind.

The finish time of Nick and Starr per their Insider clip was "1 hour 10 means after they started" on April 24, which means it is 1010 with them being in the 9:00am release group. Add 12 hours and you have 2210 for pitstop release. It will take 5 minutes to get back from Forte Sao Marcelo and an unknown amount of time to flag down a taxi. Then it is a straight shot 12 miles up the coast road BA099 to Magelhaes International Airport. At that time of night traffic should be light. I am guessing that they could be there betwen 2245 and 2300. If on the earlier side of that range then they could get on GOL 1604 SSA FOR 2310 0055. If not, they will get bunched with all other teams going on GOL 3366 0230 0415. However, if successful they will have a 3 hour 20 minute lead. It may not be possible for any other team to do the same, but Ken and Tina, Terence and Sarah and Mark and Bill could theoretically do it. Any teams that wants to try is going to have to really hustle(not a problem for the first 3 of these teams and we'll see about Mark and Bill). If a team even stops to check on flight times, they are not going to make it(but would not know that because they should not have access to any schedules at the pitstop since they don't know where they are going.

However, I can see no reason why American Airlines would send AR13 teams to Rio when AA995 to Sao Paulo arrives there earlier than AA905 does in Rio. Once there in Sao Paulo the connection I have shown is the best. In Rio, if teams did go there (and I do not recall any evidence about the TAM flight on episode 1), they would have been motivated back in LAX to choose JJ8001, which leaves 10 minutes before G3 1600.

Here are two screen caps that show what happened in Rio. The audio track says "Attencion, flight 1600 is delayed"

There may have been better flight choices but flights are spoon fed on leg 1 so they have to use the ones given.

Chateau, thank you for providing your evidence that I asked for. If you were on JJ8001 and about to go board that delayed flight, what would be seeing on the monitor? I expect that it would be delayed LATER flights such as G31600. You need better proof than the monitor that teams took the GOL flight. Perhaps anyone asking one of the "American group" (first 6 to leave LAX) can answer that when they are eliminated.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the reality TV show, The Amazing Race, it is a competition where people travel all over the world in a hectic rat race to come in first and win the big prize. I..m actually not all that familiar with the show myself but I..m pretty sure they were on my airplane.

This situation happened completely by chance. From Cordoba, we were to have a stop over in Porto Alegre another stop in Sao Paulo and then arrive in Salvador in the afternoon. Because of fog, the airport in Porto Alegre was closed, so we had to detour to Rio and from there, fly to Salvador, which was actually much more efficient and convenient.

At the airport in Rio, we noticed several film crews and people in teams of two, often wearing matching outfits. These two girls from Texas (according to their t-shirts anyway) were wearing matching black biker shorts, bright pink tank tops and a ton of make-up. I think the t-shirt was pretty accurate. Anyway, we noticed them being interviewed by the film crews, acting out dramatic situations and so-on. When it came time to board we talked to some of them and lent one of them our brazil book, although they didn..t give us many details about what they were doing. There was a delay in taking off and one team asked if they could move closer to the front. As soon as they did, all the other contestants tried to do the same. It was kind of annoying becuase I think it delayed our take-off even more. Anyway, at that point, we were pretty confident that if it wasn..t The Amazing Race, it was an amazing race of some sort.

We determined that they were originally on a flight from Cordoba, Argentina to Porto Alegre: G3 7496

So it follows that the flight they take from GIG to SSA would be with G3 since they would continue with that same airlines.

Also G31600 shows up on Matt's board and JJ8001 is not present. Are you sure that flight was active on April 23rd?

I have been looking for an earlier alternative to LA965 LPB SCL 1000 1510. I have found something that is not as good but provides one alternative more than those listed under 4/29 flight information in my latest Timetable. It is:

Dawn on April 28 was not until 622am and sunrise until 644am in La Paz. How could teams be in the lighting conditions we observed in episode 3 before dawn? It didn't happen until maybe 30 to 60 minutes later.

It is possible that you have not seen or do not agree with my hypothesis above that there was a 24 hour acclimization perid that took place on arrival in Bolivia. This makes more sense than doing an extended 36 hour pitstop in Fortaleza.

It's time for another updated Timeline. puddin is quite correct in saying that that it doesn't matter whether it was an 36 hour extended pitstop in Fortaleza or an extra 24 hours acclimatization in LaPaz does not affect what comes later. It takes us to the start of tasks in LaPaz the morning of April 28 either way. Here is my latest timeline, which as you can see assumes the 24 hour acclimatization period in LaPaz:

AR13 TIMELINE(note that this one assumes the 2 legs Delhi area and 2 legs Moscow scenario, which has a CBS claim supporting it and is proably right; it does not mean that legs 7 and 9 are still not open to question)

Depending on when they arrive at LAX, teams have choices of 3 flight combinations to Salvador:

There are other possiblities for the American flight from Miami to connect in Rio, but they can arrive no earlier than the later TAM Aereas Lineas flight into Salvador.

tasks in Salvador; then Hours of Operation

4/23 tasks in Salvador

4/24 We know the elevator task in Salvador is this morning. It will be followed soon after by a pitstop. For top teams that means that they can reach the Salvador airport by 11pm and possibly get G31604 SSA FOR 2310 0055+1.

4/25 leg 2, choices of flights from Salvador to Fortaleza are:SSA FOR JJ3366 0230 0415SSA FOR JJ3890 0330 0635SSA FOR G31642 0645 0945SSA FOR G31260 1100 1350SSA FOR JJ8003 1130 1310 followed by tasks in Fortzaleza that are complete around 1pm or slightly later; Pitstop in Fortaleza ends from about 1am to about a half hour later

4/26 leg 3Best if pitstop release time is in the afternoon is JJ3849 FOR GRU 1515 1835 connecting in SaoPaulo with G37460 GRU VVI 2200 0115. There is a slightly earlier alternate fOR GRU - G31883 1440 1810.

The one most teams are likely to get is JJ3325 FOR GRU 0730 1130 connecting in Sao Paulo with 5L301 GRU VVI 1600 1730.

If a leading team is released by midnight, then they could get JJ3323 FOR GRU 0130 0500 connecting in Sao Paulo with AR1263 SRU EZE 0630 0925 and connecting in Buenos Aires with AR1362 EZE VVI 1115 1320.

Other routes from GRU to VVI through EZE are inferior; only this one above works for AR13.

For FOR LPB there are few options and the best is taking the 5L301 JJ3325 FOR GRU 0730 1130 connecting in Sao Paulo with 5L301 GRU VVI 1600 1730, then 5L211 VVI LPB 1900 2000.

Another option to LPB is to go through LIM. We start FOR GRU with JJ3325 0730 1130. Next is GRU LIM LP780 1450 1810. finally, we have 5L1405 LIM LPB 2130 0015 or 3 hours later than the prior combination.

There are other combinations with arrive SCL up to 8pm, but none are likely coompare to the two above.

LAN801 2245 0355+2 SCL AKL, the trans-South Pacific Crossing

5/2 leg 4Teams do tasks somewhere on the North Island of New Zealand from early morning until late evening when a pitstop starts.

5/3 and 5/4, leg 5Teams return to Auckland International Airport and fly out in multiple bunches from noon until midnight. Choices of routes from AKL to REP (Siem Reap) are:

AKL BKK TG990 1315 2100, connecting with BKK REP PG903 0800 0900

AKL SYD 1245 1415 NZ119 or 1325 1450 QF190 or 1550 1715 EK419 (note: since it is rumored that an Emirates flight was used, EK419 is thee most likely of the 3)these connect in Sydney to get SYD BKK with connection on one of these:1550 2215 TG996 1635 2255 QF3011700 2315 QF1

The AKL BNE route has several choices:QF126 1435 1625NZ739 1530 1720EK433 1655 1835 this then continues on to Singapore with BNE SIN EK433 2045 0150+1 and then SIN REP 3K595 0600 0700

The BNE BKK route has TG992 2359 0559+1. this would be followed by BKK REP PG903 0800 0900

Then BNE SIN has a flight after EK433 - SQ2246 2345 0545+1, but it is not in time to connect with 3K595 so teams doing thhis must wait for SIN REP MI616 1025 1135.Other flights BNE SIN are SQ246 2345 0545. This would connect with 3K595.

There are no flights BKK REP until the morning of May 4. May 4 reports of PG503 0800 0900 not having any teams sighted may be inaccurate, as it is the only flight that could get teams there from Bangkok by late morning since there was no possibility of them leaving Auckland in the afternoon and reaching Bangkok before 7pm.

Another route is AKL MEL 1300 1500 NZ2725 or 1615 1815 QF134Those connect with MEL BKK 1605 2235 TG982 or MEL SIN 1920 0100 EK405, which requires a connection to Bangkok or waiting until MI616 SIN REP 1025 1135.That connection on May 4 is either TG402 SIN BKK 0740 0900 or SQ970 0845 1010. Then a connection to PG905 BKK REP 1100 1220 is the next one possible.

One late team is probably on AKL SIN 2355 0645 SQ282 connecting there with SQ970 and PG905 shown above to avoid waiting for MI633.

Rewatching the arrival sequence, it looks like Nick/Star and Mark/Bill got on the Santa Cruz connection, while the rest took the Lima route. The lead teams arrive on an Aerosur flight (plane in the background while teams walk on the tarmac) and the taxi to Simon Bolivar shows a clock saying 9.32 (pm, as it is dark), congruent with an 8pm arrival.

For the trailing teams, the route through Peru would explain Aja/Ty checking in at the Lan counter at Sao Paulo. Marissa/Brooke and Andrew/Dan definitely arrive on the second flight, and third-place Terence/Sarah's "Hi guys!" seems to suggest they took separate flights.

Both lead teams are wearing the same clothes getting into the taxi at the airport and arriving at Simon Bolivar. Would this help the case that there was no 24-hour camp-out in La Paz? (You know, we do like to get the details right...)

ETA: Who's that on the left in the third pic?

« Last Edit: October 14, 2008, 10:14:34 AM by Neobie »

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Neobie, are you sure which episode you have? The picture of Bill/Mark makes me believe that they could be for epsiode 3. The flights into LaPaz connected in both Sao Paulo and in Santa Cruz. Outgoing flights do one of both, so which is it?

I'm actually trying to come to a conclusion on what happened flight-wise and timeline-wise on this leg. Here are your flights I've picked out:

Fortaleza to Sao Paulo on JJ3325: 0730-1130 (or any other flight)Sao Paulo to Santa Cruz on 5L301: 1600-1730Santa Cruz to La Paz on 5L211: 1900-2000

Fortaleza to Sao Paulo on JJ3325: 0730-1130 (or any other flight)Sao Paulo to Lima on LP780: 1450-1810Lima to La Paz on 5L1405: 2130-0015

I'm thinking if teams didn't change their clothes between touching down at the airport and arriving at Simon Bolivar; and with Mark/Bill in their taxi at a time matching a 8pm flight arrival, it could very well point to a Pit Stop extension in Fortaleza instead of a 24-hour break at La Paz - there seems not to be a gap in between airport arrivals and the rest of the leg.

(Not that they wouldn't do it for the first time, but TPTB has never had a mid-leg rest break before.)

And solving "mysterious person" could tell us whether Terence/Sarah made the earlier or later flight, since he's just starting to roll out his blankets. Nick/Starr did well to jump ahead at the airport this leg!

« Last Edit: October 14, 2008, 10:51:47 AM by Neobie »

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Both lead teams are wearing the same clothes getting into the taxi at the airport and arriving at Simon Bolivar. Would this help the case that there was no 24-hour camp-out in La Paz? (You know, we do like to get the details right...)

puddin is quite correct in saying that that it doesn't matter whether it was an 36 hour extended pitstop in Fortaleza or an extra 24 hours acclimatization in LaPaz does not affect what comes later. It takes us to the start of tasks in LaPaz the morning of April 28 either way. Here is my latest timeline, which as you can see assumes the 24 hour acclimatization period in LaPaz:

AR13 TIMELINE(modified Oct. 20)

Depending on when they arrive at LAX, teams have choices of 3 flight combinations to Salvador:

There are other possiblities for the American flight from Miami to connect in Rio, but they can arrive no earlier than the later TAM Aereas Lineas flight into Salvador.

tasks in Salvador; then Hours of Operation

4/23 tasks in Salvador

4/24 We know the elevator task in Salvador is this morning. It will be followed soon after by a pitstop. For top teams that means that they can reach the Salvador airport by 11pm and possibly get G31604 SSA FOR 2310 0055+1.

4/25 leg 2, choices of flights from Salvador to Fortaleza are:SSA FOR JJ3366 0230 0415SSA FOR JJ3890 0330 0635SSA FOR G31642 0645 0945SSA FOR G31260 1100 1350SSA FOR JJ8003 1130 1310 followed by tasks in Fortzaleza that are complete around 1pm or slightly later; Pitstop in Fortaleza ends from about 1am to about a half hour later

4/26 leg 3For FOR LPB there are few options and the best is taking the 5L301 JJ3325 FOR GRU 0730 1130 connecting in Sao Paulo with 5L301 GRU VVI 1600 1730, then 5L211 VVI LPB 1900 2000.

Another option to LPB is to go through LIM. We start FOR GRU with JJ3325 0730 1130. Next is GRU LIM LP780 1450 1810. finally, we have 5L1405 LIM LPB 2130 0015 or 3 hours later than the prior combination.

once teams arrive in LaPaz airport I believe they go to a 24 hour special rest break for acclimiatization to the LaPaz altitude4/27 Acclimatization rest break

4/28 Teams do tasks in Bolivia starting around 7am and then have an extended 36 hour pitstop late morning in the LaPaz area.

5/2 leg 4Teams do tasks on the North Island of New Zealand from 4am until pitstop checkin from 1030am until about 7pm.

5/3 and 5/4, leg 5Teams return with a 2 hour drive to Auckland International Airport and fly out in multiple bunches from early afternoon until midnight. Choices of routes from AKL to REP (Siem Reap) are:

Apskip, don't forget that CBS/WRP has issued the OFFICIAL MAP of the Pitstop/Legs for the race.

They show ONE for Siem ReapTWO for Delhi (New and Old)ONE for KazakhstanTWO for MoscowAll of which fits perfectly for our remaining legs.

I would certainly have reversed that and focused the double legs on our new places of Siem Reap and Kazakhstan, but apparently they didn't agree.

And I have read/listened to multiple interviews and am convinced IMO, that Fortaleza had an extended Pitstop (teams definitely seen at a group dinner) and La Paz did not (audio interview of Mark and Bill talking about sleeping outside and beginning the task in the AM). IMO, there was no "acclimatization" extension. We will definitely need to ask the racers about this!

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I meant to say that La Paz did not have some "in-race" acclimitization. I am still puzzled about what happened between La Paz and Santiago and imagine I will stay that way until the racers can fill us in. April 29 went somewhere!

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Peach, Chateau is absolutely right. It was a 36 hour extended pitstop starting around 1pm on April 28 and ending just around 1am on April 30. April 29 was compeletely subsumed by that pitstop.

Peach, on the two 2-legs question, I suggest you go back and read my Timeline more carefully. For some time it has been showing legs 6 and 7 for the Delhi region and legs 9 and 10 for Moscow with Almaty Kazakhstan in between. That is correct by the CBS Amazing Map as best I can tell.

Random musings, since Ty and Aja's "kiss me, I need a little affection" was not filmed in Singapore's Changi Airport. (That's not the airport I know!) Did they connect through somewhere else on top of Singapore?

Recognize the sarong kebaya of the Singapore Airlines stewardess on their arrival in Singapore, and the Silk Air livery on their arrival in Siem Reap, though. That means the unfamiliar airport was between Auckland and Singapore. Sydney, maybe?

« Last Edit: November 02, 2008, 06:07:22 AM by Neobie »

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